I don't know you guys, but I think that comic shouldn't have been created in the first place.
Everything is very off. Very OOC.

The one who came up with that idea should be fired.
That ending was... senseless.

Also, I don't know why when Hasbro has this kind of ideas the ending is not acceptable.
(Cough... Mare Do Well... Cough)

4686655 Yeah, The Holiday Special seems to be the beginning of the end for IDW's good run with the franchise. The comics haven't picked back up in the time since, the upcoming 4 part sequel to King Sombra's Fiendship issue may be their last chance to turn it all around.

4686658

Oh shit, that's happening? I thought it wouldn't.

4686655

I quit reading the comics after the eg special. It all went downhill.

4686655 Really? you guys didn't like it? Cause I loved it. I loved seeing more of Sunset Shimmer with her journey to experience more of friendship while also showing her insecurities. Plus, the ending was very mature to me with how Sweetie Belle and Rarity acknowledge the hard fact that the stuff they put is still out there online, teaching kids how they need to be careful with what they upload on the internet. Honestly, it's one of my personal favorites.

4686684
Wait! WHAT!?
Did that really happened?

4686687 ...uh, yeah. You didn't notice that? I mean we are talking about the Equestria Girls holiday special, right?

4686703
I don't remember that part of Rarity.

4686707 Well maybe you should give it another read and look a little deeper to what specifically happens throughout the comic.

4686684
I agree, I completely LOVED the EQG christmas special.

4686655

(Cough... Mare Do Well... Cough)

Rainbow Dash had it coming, the episode was okay.

4686684

Really? you guys didn't like it? Cause I loved it. I loved seeing more of Sunset Shimmer with her journey to experience more of friendship while also showing her insecurities. Plus, the ending was very mature to me with how Sweetie Belle and Rarity acknowledge the hard fact that the stuff they put is still out there online, teaching kids how they need to be careful with what they upload on the internet. Honestly, it's one of my personal favorites.

The problem is it's placement in the timeline being post Rainbow Rocks. Since Rainbow Rocks is her redemption Arc and dealing with her insecurities.

4686880 well yeah, but that doesn't mean she can never be insecure again. This comic gives the idea of how much Sunset Shimmer's friendship with the human five means to her and how much it tears her to lose that when they don't believe her. She still is on this journey of growing to someone greater than she was before, and to have her friends on top of the rest of the school not believe her is horrifying to her. Thus the more reason to root for her and be happy when she wins in the end. It may not fit into being a post rainbow rocks story, but I still love it for the story it tells and how much further development we get into Sunset Shimmer even if it's not canon.

4686891 Only because they were the only people that cared about her at all. I'm sure if she had MORE friends, she wouldn't have been so upset by it.

4686655 I'm okay with the comic, though I've pointed out that my main issues are with where it's placed timeline-wise and the way that things are handled. There's a reason I'm doing my own take on it in time for Christmas this year to try and smooth things out.

And I don't really think IDW's gone downhill. Friends Forever has been consistently good, and I enjoyed the FIENDship issues very much (though the Sirens comic was a weak one). Just my two cents.

4686655
The problem for me is that it takes my problems with Ponyville Confidential, flips them, then makes them worse. See,in the episode there were no malicious intentions, but the townsfolk ostracized them. (Rainbow actually assaulting them). Conversely, the intentions in the comic ARE deliberate attempts to hurt Sunset, and they get off scot free!!! Wtf?!?!

Of course, I could just be misremembering things.

4686893 even if she did, the Human Five are her best friends, and that means more to a person than just a friend. Besides, we're talking about a comic were it's just them and Sunset Shimmer made it clear in the second page of the story how happy she is now that she had them.

4687112 But still, this comic shows that she won't always be able to rely on them to help her, so it'd be smart for her to look for friends from more than one pool of people/ponies. Between this comic and the first Friendship Games short, I think it's also safe to say that the Rainbooms aren't exactly what I'd call the best friends she could ever ask for.

In the comic, they turn on her at the drop of a hat like everyone else at the school, and only start liking her again after Sunset goes to the trouble of proving her innocence. If they were such great friends, wouldn't they at least tried to listen to her pleas and tried to help her find who was responsible for degrading her?

And in the short, they do and say nothing as their magic bombards and potentially maims Sunset. The only thing Sunset gets out of them that even resembles an apology is an awkward glance from Rarity. Sure, they didn't MEAN to have their magic hurt her, but that's all the more reason why they SHOULD'VE apologized to her. There's a difference between hurting a total stranger without realizing it and just watching your friend nearby get hurt because of something you're doing without making a single attempt to stop and help. And I don't recall them giving Sunset a document to sign, saying: "We cannot be held responsible for whatever we do, deliberately or accidentally, with our magic. Hang out with us at your own risk."

Fluttershy didn't seem to do anything to hurt Sunset, so I guess she's off the hook.

Rarity does nothing but grimace while Sunset's tangled in wires.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash just keep playing their instruments while Sunset's blasted to kingdom come and splattered with rainbow ooze.

Applejack watches Sunset get crushed under a pile of apples she conjured up, and what does she do? Grab one, eat it, and walk away while leaving Sunset buried under the rest of it.

4686891

well yeah, but that doesn't mean she can never be insecure again.

We've had one song once she got her magic back saying she can't, and one showing how far she's chucked her insecurities behind her.

4686832
Rainbow Dash did literally nothing wrong.

4688162 The episode portrayed Rainbow Dash as getting too big for her britches, as Applejack would say. Trouble is that Dash has always had something of an ego.

Let's just agree that the episode in question is very much 'take it or leave it', eh?

4689263
Here.

4690444 Okay, first of all, thanks for the link, that was a good story.

Second, I'm not saying that the others weren't in the wrong for what they did - they were. I'm also not saying that Rainbow Dash wasn't right to be proud of her accomplishments - she was. But, and this is my opinion, she was getting a tiny bit of a big head. Did they handle things wrong? Yes. Did things escalate too dang quickly? YES. Was the episode poorly-conceived? HECK YES. But they were right to be concerned.

Like I said, take it or leave it.

...and getting back on topic, as previously mentioned, I'm doing my own take on the Holiday Special and have every intention of linking it here, both for publicity's sake and to see if folks think I did a fair job of fixing the problems with the original story. I hope that no one objects to this.

4686655 – I wrote a text review to Happy Holidays when it came out last year. While I acknowledge it has problems, I honestly can't hate it. I found it enjoyable… at least if one doesn't get bogged down in the little inconsistencies.

A lot of people complained that the CMC got off too lightly, especially in comparison to what happened in "Ponyville Confidential". Leaving aside that I felt Ponyville was way too harsh on them in that episode (which I otherwise love), I ask the complainers this: What would you have done to them? Many people outright said that the CMC should have been sent straight to juvie until they turn 21, or at least suffered as much as they made Sunset suffer. Doing that would go against the entire theme of the series. Others complained that Sunset was too quick to forgive the CMC. I strongly disagree; anyone who says that obviously doesn't get Sunset's character. She's been there. Hell, she's probably done exactly what the CMC did. Her ability to forgive them shows her growth. Yes, they did appear to switch mood too quickly at the end. There was one blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene of Applebloom watching Sunset being abused and feeling guilty, but there should have been more of that before they confessed, to make their guilt more believable.

The real problem with it is that the comic's place in the timeline is inconsistent. Had the scenes with Twilight and the Journal not been included, the story would have worked much better, since it would have been more obviously taking place between the 1st and 2nd movies, thus the Humane Other Five not fully trusting Sunset makes a lot more sense. It may have been a corporate mandate to include Rainbow Rocks plot points in there. If that's the case, then I can't blame Ted as much as I'd like to.

Speaking of which, people were already biased against that comic before it even hit shelves because it came on the heels of Tedlygate. Let the record show that I dislike Ted Anderson as a person, but I felt the efforts by /mlp/ and >HN to get him fired were far worse. Everyone went into the comic believing that it would be his last (since it was turned in before the "scandal" blew up), but then less than two weeks before it hit shelves it became obvious he had not been fired like they'd been led (by anons) to believe, so they brought their anger at that upon a comic that, while flawed, didn't deserve the level of hate it got.

There's only been two MLP:IDW comics I've read thus far I've found irredeemable – Friends Forever #1 for its poor artistry and lame story, and Main Line #25-26 (the Western story) for its contrived plot and abysmal pacing. I'm also not a big fan of the Fluttershy Micro due to its weird setup and warped moral.

OF ALL THE STUPID... ASANINE... SHARK-JUMPING BULLSHIT...!!!!

Honestly, the Humane-5 could have at the very least given her the benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
However, I will admit that it does give us some insight into how much Sunset has grown as a character. I mean, the old her would probably try to get revenge in some way or another on whoever was ruining her hard-earned new reputation as a respectable human being, while the new her has been taking all this verbal abuse like a champ (despite a few tears being shed by her). So, kudos to the writer for showing us this new side of her.

4710852
I'm going to have to ask you to reign in your spam.

Posts like this one add nothing of value to the thread. While it is preferable that you do post in existing threads rather than start up frivolous ones, it would be even better if you took the time to actually present something of value.

4710854
This is a perfect example. This is fine. This shows your thoughts and opinions, and adds to the existing conversation.

Looking through most of your posts... you're wasting yours and everyone else's time. There is no rush to get your response in quickly. This thread alone is over a week old. It's not like you have any compulsion to race to get your words in before everyone else (and if you and others did have that compulsion, then you likely ought to take the conversation to an instant messenger program instead of trying to hold such a lively conversation on a forum).

4711540
4711542
Double post.

4711578
Thanks. Fixed.

I just wanted to let everyone know my initial reaction to it
to the second response: better late than never

4687748 ...not one for the Rule of Funny, are you?

In all seriousness, Sunset's had to deal with worse physical injuries. In comparison to getting blown into the bottom of a crater, this is kinda light.

4715346 Just because something's meant to be funny doesn't mean it can't be seen as mean-spirited. Sunset's been through a lot of torment/drama as it is, so putting her on the receiving end of a slapstick routine just comes off as the equivalent of rubbing salt in an open wound. You're trying to convince us that the Rainbooms are Sunset's friends--something she's been DESPERATE for--yet you show a montage of Sunset getting Buster Keaton'd half to death because of stuff her beloved FRIENDS are doing, and said friends don't even BAT AN EYE when this happens.

Anyone remember "Griffon the Brush-Off"? When Pinkie Pie was trying to convince Rainbow Dash NOT to prank Fluttershy because of how sensitive she was? Well, Sunset may not be as sensitive as Fluttershy, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have feelings.

In "Feeling Pinkie Keen", Pinkie didn't apologize to Twilight whenever she got hurt, but that made sense. Why? Because Pinkie had NOTHING to do with Twilight's injuries; she was only detecting stuff that was about to happen. But the stuff that was hurting Sunset in the FG short WAS caused by the Rainbooms, even if it was indirect/accidental.

In all seriousness, Sunset's had to deal with worse physical injuries. In comparison to getting blown into the bottom of a crater, this is kinda light.

That's like saying "Oh, you burned your hand? Well, look at the bright side: at least your legs weren't broken this time!"